Kindle Fire gets MIUI Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich port

Amazon has outfitted its Kindle Fire tablet with a completely modified Android version built on top of Gingerbread, which replaces all Google services with the online retailer's own offerings. While that arguably provides a better experience for those invested in the Amazon ecosystem, many people prefer a 'real' Android build free of Amazon's shackles, one that can access all apps from the Android Market and provides all the functionality you would expect from a proper Android device.

Thus, it is not surprising that hackers have managed to port several stock Android versions to the Kindle Fire, such as the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. There are even ports of MIUI, an extremely popular custom ROM with design cues from iOS and Samsung's TouchWiz interface. But what if those two came together – a MIUI Ice Cream Sandwich ROM?

Of course, that didn't take them hackers too long either. While the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version of MIUI is still far from stable, compared to its tried-and-tested Android 2.3 Gingerbread branch, there are already ports for several devices, the Kindle Fire among them.

However, there are some caveats, as you would expect from such experimental stuff: some features like USB tethering and themes are broken, and you won't have much fun playing graphiocs-intensive 3D games since hardware acceleration doesn't work yet. As a curiosity, you aren't able to use static wallpapers either – you're limited to live wallpapers, and not the other way round.

If all that doesn't sound too bad, then head over to MIUI.us for download links and instructions – being a custom ROM, you'll need your Kindle Fire rooted and have recovery installed, of course.